Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a product authentication, and more particularly to a method and system for authenticating genuine products in online shopping platforms.
Description of Related Arts
Online shopping has substantially replaced conventional store shopping throughout the world. One advantage of online shopping is that a buyer may shop at any time and from anywhere. A buyer may simply stay home and browse through a wide selections of products via Internet. When a particular product is desirable, the buyer may make a purchase decision over the Internet and make a corresponding payment online. When a payment has been made, the order will be further processed and the corresponding product is shipped to a designated address within a predetermined timeframe.
Conventionally, sellers may set up an online shopping platform which may list a number of products and contain detailed product information and shipment methods. A particular seller may establish their own direct shopping platform so that a buyer may order a particular product from that seller. For example, the online shopping platform may be established by a store so that a buyer who makes purchases through the store's online shopping platform is confident that he or she is buying from a trusted seller.
On the other hand, sellers may join a third-party online shopping platform and list their products on that platform. The online shopping platform may act as an intermediary agent for monitoring transactions.
Another online shopping model is that a number of buying agents may receive orders from buyers and help them to purchase products from designated stores. For example, a buyer may make an order online to a buying agent who will actually go to a store to make a corresponding purchase. After making the purchase, the product may then be shipped to the buyer. In this particular online shopping model, instead of making purchases directly from a seller, a buyer “hires” a buying agent to go to a designated store to make the purchase.
One disadvantage of the last online shopping model discussed above is that the buyers are unable to verify that the product they actually receive is the product they ordered. For example, if a buyer hires a buying agent to go to a designated store and purchase a pair of shoes which is a limited edition of a particular model. The buying agent may go to the store, make the purchase, and ship the shoes to the buyer. When the buyer has received the shoes, the buyer has no reason to know if the shoes he or she receives is a genuine product and bought from an authorized or trusted seller (i.e. the designated store).
Moreover, many online shopping platforms claim to sell luxurious products. The sellers claim to have purchased the luxurious products from a popular store (such as an outlet) and re-sell the products online. A common defect of this online shopping model is that the buyers do not know the real origin of the products, and they generally have no effective way to verify the authenticity of the products.
As a result, there is a need to develop a method and system for authenticating genuine products in an online shopping platform.